AROUND 430,000 patients from across south-east Hampshire, including Whitehill and Bordon, will be able to get access to advice from a clinical pharmacist when they visit their GP next year.

The move follows a successful pilot bid for £337,200 to NHS England, by the Fareham and Gosport and South Eastern Hampshire Primary Care Alliances Ltd with local partners in clinical pharmacy education and non-medical workforce development.

The funding will run over four years and is to be supplemented by contributions from many of the 40 Alliances GP practices in the clinical commissioning group areas, which covers GP practices in Whitehill and Bordon. 

It will enable the recruitment of one senior clinical pharmacist and five clinical pharmacists to work across the areas.

News of the successful bid has been welcomed by Dr David Melville and Dr Donal Collins, who chair the Alliances for South East Hampshire and Fareham and Gosport respectively.

Dr Melville said: “Benefits will include support for patients with long-term conditions who will get extra help, including advice on how to manage multiple medications and more access to clinical advice on treatments.”

Recruitment of pharmacists for the initiative will start immediately and could be in place from the spring 2016.

The pilots will be evaluated and build on the experiences of GPs elsewhere in the country that have clinical pharmacists as part of their team.